Planetary gears are commonly used in automatic vehicle transmissions. A challenge with planetary assemblies with captive clutches is that is that the clutch assembly cannot be serviced without disassembling the planetary assembly. Therefore when a component fails, typically the entire planetary assembly must be replaced, at significant expense.
What is needed is a planetary assembly in which the friction clutch can be easily removed and replaced without difficulty and while maintaining the rest of the planetary assembly.
FIGS. 1 through 4 display a planetary assembly as commonly found in the prior art. FIG. 1 displays planetary housing 30, including bottom plate 15 having diode 10, which serves as the bottom of the assembly. A plurality of teeth 20 are elevated from diode 10 and extend circumferentially from elevated portion 22. Top portion 40 of planetary housing 30 includes apertures 50 for receiving pins 60 (as shown in FIG. 13), to rotate planetary gears 70. Elevation members 80 elevate apertures 50 above bottom plate 15.
FIGS. 4A, 4B and 4C shows pressure plate 90, steel disc 100 and friction disc 110, respectively. Circumferentially extending splines 120, 125 on steel disc 100 and pressure plate 90, respectively extend outwardly and are alignable with splines 130 on bottom plate 15. Friction disc 110 includes a plurality of circumferentially internally extending teeth 140 to mate with teeth 20 on bottom plate 15 and thereby prevent rotation of friction disc 110 when placed around diode 10.
FIGS. 2A and 2B show assembled housing 30. Pressure plate 90 rests on top of alternating layers (in pairs) of steel disc 100 and friction disc 110.
As can be seen from FIGS. 2A and 2B, and FIGS. 3A and 3B, when a single steel disc 100, friction disc 110 or pressure plate 90 needs to be replaced, the entire assembly 30 must be entirely disassembled, removed or destroyed, as gears 70 prevent the removal of single steel disc 100, friction disc 110 or pressure plate 90, and typically the entire assembly 30 is simply replaced at significant expense.